Jarrett Arakawa gave the Hawaii Rainbows another quality start.

And this time, he can actually enjoy it.

The freshman left-hander threw a career-high eight innings, holding Centenary to one run in Hawaii’s 7-1 victory last night at Les Murakami Stadium.

A crowd of 1,986 watched the Rainbows (9-9) even their record at .500 and win their third straight game.

Hawaii hasn’t lost since Arakawa’s last start, a 10-7 defeat to Portland in which the Rainbows blew a 6-2 lead after Arakawa had gone seven strong innings.

UH ran into minor trouble in the eighth inning again, but Arakawa was given the opportunity to pitch out of his own jam. He issued a leadoff walk to Nic Parrott, and consecutive singles by Kyle Mauch and Matt Creamer loaded the bases with nobody out.

After a visit from UH coach Mike Trapasso, Arakawa struck out pinch hitter Derrick Hernandez swinging on a 3-2 pitch. RJ Talamantes grounded out to first to score the Gents’ only run as Arakawa got Tyler Neporadny to bounce out to second to end the threat and earn his first win.

“The most important thing is the win, so it definitely feels a lot better than last time,” Arakawa (1-2) said. “I wanted to try and finish (the eighth) so I just tried to focus in a little harder and execute pitches at that point.”

Trapasso said he had no intention of taking out Arakawa, who threw 105 pitches.

“He was going to stay in there until he was over 100 pitches and I wanted to see him get through it because he really wasn’t tested all day,” Trapasso said. “He just pumps strikes, got a lot of groundballs, and kept doing what he’s been doing for us.”

He matched his career high with six strikeouts and allowed one walk on four hits, facing only three batters over the eight-inning minimum.

Sean Montplaisir doubled and drove in two runs and junior Michael Blake, who started at first base, went 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

“They worked me in (at first) in the fall and spring and I’ve been practicing it, so it was good to get the opportunity to get out there and help the defense out,” Blake said. “Everyone’s been really committed in practice, coming in early and staying after, and I think people are really getting their approach and their timing down.”

Centenary starter Seth Lugo (2-2) took the loss, running out of gas in the fifth as he hit the 100-pitch mark. After a one-out double by Jeff Van Doornum, Lugo hit Blake with a pitch and walked the next two guys to force in a run.

Kelby Langston replaced Lugo and walked Breland Almadova to score another run. Montplaisir followed with a sacrifice fly and Kolten Wong drilled a one-out single through the right side of the infield to plate Moore and give UH a 6-0 lead.

Blake put Hawaii on the board in the second with a one-out single that scored Pi‘ikea Kitamura. The Rainbows took a 2-0 lead in the fourth on an RBI double by Montplaisir that scored Almadova, who singled and stole second.

Arakawa, who only gave up two hits through the first seven innings, retired nine in a row before Talamantes’ hit with one out in the sixth.

The Gents (3-8) put two runners on base in the third on two errors by catcher Garrett Champion, who was 2-for-3 at the plate with a double. Arakawa struck out Lugo swinging to end the third and Champion threw out Talamantes trying to steal second in the sixth.

Blake added an RBI single in the eighth, scoring Kitamura to give the Rainbows a 7-1 lead.

Junior Jesse Moore (0-2, 3.38), who was expected to start today, will go tomorrow in the series finale.

Trapasso said he’d start either Alex Capaul (0-1, 5.40) or Zach Gallagher (2-0, 2.53) in today’s game that begins at 1:05 p.m.